A DJ and two presenters have roused the spectators at the 1,800-capacity National Exhibition Centre arena to make as much noise as they can, not just for lifters from home nations but for all of them.

"It’s amazing, like a football stadium," said Jalood, one of the nine Executive Board members of the IWF, who have been soaking up the atmosphere.

"I’ve never seen spectators encourage weightlifters like this.

"It’s a wonderful atmosphere, like one big family all cheering.

"Believe me, the Commonwealth Games is very, very important for me.

"It’s the next biggest competition after the Olympic Games (a third of the world’s population live in Commonwealth nations)."

Among the athletes who have been lifted by the atmosphere are Canada’s Maude Charron, Nevo Ioane of Samoa and the Nigerian Joseph Umoafia, who said: "The more the crowd cheered, the more I lifted."

"Because there were no spectators in Tokyo (because of COVID-19) and nobody to support you, it has been very special here - I’ve never heard so much noise at a weightlifting competition," Charron said.  

Antonio Urso, the IWF’s new general secretary who is devising plans to enhance the presentation of weightlifting, said: "I learned a lot here, I congratulate the Organising  Committee and I’m thinking it’s possible to do more like this.

"I like what the presenters are doing."

The presenters, Ramsey Kechacha and Gurinder Hayer, give a quickfire explanation of the rules when there is a 'no lift' that is not obvious to a newcomer to weightlifting.

They interview past and present weightlifters in the audience during breaks, use their chat and the music to bring life to the "dead time" between lifts, and repeatedly urge the audience with the cry "Come on Birmingham, make some noise!".

Jo Calvino, sport manager for weightlifting at Birmingham 2022, made the changes to presentation after learning from her experience in working for other sports.

"I wanted to flip the script, to make this a really positive event after so much negative news for weightlifting," she said.

"I worked in diving and learned from the way they use music and lively presentations during gaps.

"We’ve had volunteers from other halls here at the NEC (which is also hosting badminton, table tennis and boxing) wanting to come in to watch the weightlifting because word has got around and they call this 'the party hall'.

"I had two things to do here - to make sure the focus was on the athletes and do everything we could to let them have their moment on the stage - and the presentation has done a great job there.

"The other thing was to focus on education for the audience, to connect them with the athletes in a way that doesn’t happen in weightlifting, to help them to understand the sport and have a good experience.

"We want them to leave the event with a good feeling and knowledge of the sport so they can spread the word, promote weightlifting and maybe come back again another time.

"It has all worked really well and I’m proud of what we’ve achieved."